David Cameron's loss of appeal to women voters is causing some head-scratching at Tory party headquarters, so it may not be entirely coincidence that for the first time since the Order of the British Empire was introduced nearly a hundred years ago, more women than men have been recognised in the New Year's honours. But even if it is a case of doing the right thing for the wrong reason, for women finally to be honoured in numbers that reflect the population statistics is cause for celebration. It means that women's achievement has made another advance on the road to normalisation. Critical mass, that moment when change generates its own momentum, may at last have been reached. This is not just optimism. As feminists have long pointed out, women have commonly been written out of history by men. But now Whitehall's male-dominated main honours committee has recognised women's contribution, helped perhaps by the modernisation of the honours criteria to reflect contributions to the community alongside the more traditional fare of party donors and captains of industry. Sad to report, in the upper levels men still dominate by 60:40, though that too is changing, as women reach the top in sciences and administration. No disrespect, of course, to Penelope Keith, who – after a long career playing ladies of the manor, crowned by her recent cameo role as Lady Catherine de Bourgh in PD James's Pride and Prejudice sequel – can now call herself a dame off stage as well as on.